The Basics
Lev Vygotsky was a Russian psychologist with the wide-ranging interest in literature, linguistics, sociology, philosophy and the arts. He began his higher education in medicine but switched to law. After graduation he taught literature at a provincial school but soon began to give lectures on psychology. He only lived from 1896 to 1934 but still managed to produce several major works. Unfortunately his work was not published until his death in 1934 and then in 1936 was suppressed in Russia. For over two decades his work was not known in the West, but in recent years Vygotsky work has become influential in western psychology and education.
Vygotsky was influenced strongly by the work of Pavlov, especially Pavlov's emphasis on scientific methods of investigation as opposed to introspection. However Vygotsky's interest were much broader than Pavlov's concept of the conditioned reflex. Vygotsky was also influenced by the writings of Karl Marx and by the Russian Revolution. Several ideas about society and about collective action found their way into Vygotsky's theories.
Vygotsky thought that the social world played a primary role in cognitive development. He saw language as a major tool not only for communications but also for shaping individual thought. He started cognition within a historical and cultural framework because he believes that was the only way that cognition could be understood. Vygotsky placed an emphasis on social and cultural aspects of learning. Certain aspects of Vygotsky's work have influenced education, especially his concept of the zone of proximal development. Many current constructivist ideas about instruction find their roots in Vygotsky.